Counting-machine.



PATENTED NOV. l0, 1903.

J. B. SLEEMAN.

COUNTING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 5, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

N0. MODEL.

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PATENTED NOV. l0, 1903.

J. B. SLEEMAN.

GOUNTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.5,1903.

NO MODEL.

UNITED STATES 'Patented November 10, 1903.

JAMES B. SLEEMAN, OF HUNTINGDON, PENNSYl'lVANlA.

COUNTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,579, dated November10, 1903.

Application filed August 5, 1903. Serial No. 168,304. (No model) To allwhom t may concern.

Be it known that I, JAMES B. SLEEMAN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Huntingdon,in the county of Huntingdon and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCounting- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for counting themovements made by rotary portions of certain machines, and particularlyof ruling-machines, whereby it counts the number of sheets of paper orcounts in signatures of any stated amount which pass through saidmachine; and the invention consists in certain peculiarities in theconstruction of parts and in certain novel combinations of elements,substantially as hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out inthe subjoined claims.

A leading object of the invention is to provide a counting-machineadapted to be used in connection with a machine having a revoluble partthe number of rotations of which is to be counted-for example, thefeed-roller of a paper-feeding machine attached to a paper-rulingmachineso as to count the number of sheets or sets of sheets which passtherethrough, and which is adapted to count successively any quantitydesired or to count in signatures of any stated amount, odd or even.rThis object is Well accomplished. by the construction shown in theaccompanying drawings, which illustrate what is deemed to be the bestembodiment thereof.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a countingmachinecontaining, as stated, what is deemed to be the best embodiments of thepresent improvements. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a sideview of one of the ratchet-disks and its returning-gear viewed from theside opposite that shown in Fig. 1.

The same numerals of reference designate the same parts in the severalviews.

The counting device is mounted on a suitable frame 1, which may form apart of the frame of the machine with which said device is to be used.The frame 1 (shown in the drawings) is the part of the frame of apaperruling machine which supports the lay-boy 2.

3 designates the frame ofthe counting device proper, and 4 and 5designate ratchetdisks which are fixed on shafts G and 7, journaled inthe frame 3 and are moved intermittently and one at a time by pawls 8and 9, which are connected with and controlled by the shaft 10, therevolutions of which are to be counted. Said shaft may be that whichcarries one of the feed-rolls of a paper-feeding machine; but as saidmachine forms no part of the present invention it is not deemed to benecessary to illustrate it herein. The means by which the pawls areactuated under the control of said shaft 10 preferably comprise aneccentric 11, mounted on said shaft, a bell-crank lever 12, one arm ofwhich is connected with said eccentric by a rod 13 aud eccentric-strap13a, a rod 14, extending from the other arm of said bell-crank lever toone arm of a second bell-crank lever 15, a rod 16, extending from theother arm of the second bell-crank lever to one arm of a thirdhell-crank lever 17, and a lever 1S, extending from the other arm of thethird bell-crank and to which the pawls 8 and 9 are pivoted in properjuxtaposition to the toothed peripheries of their respectiveratchet-disks 4 and 5. It will thus be seen that rotary motion of theshaft 10 is converted into reciprocatory motion which is transmitted tothe pawl-carrying lever 18, causing said lever by means of said pawls Sand S) to intermittently actuate said ratchet-wheels 4 and 5. The lever1S is suitablyguided in its reciprocations by the elongated slot 19 andpin 20, for example.

The connection of the rod 14 with the bell cranks l2 and 15 ispreferably adjustable, which is also true with respect of the connectionof rod 1G with bell-crank 17, whereby the length of the thrust of thepawls is adjustable to suit the size of the teeth of the ratchet-disks.By this means ratchet-disks of the same diameter, but having diderentsizes and numbers of teeth, may be used interchangeably. This adjustmentmay be very desirably provided for by forming the cranks with elongatedslots 2l, adapted to the pivots of said rods, and employing suitableset-screws 22 for fixing the connection at any place in the lengths ofsaid slots.

The ratchet-disks are operated alternately, and each may be movedthrough a predetermined series of steps, (correspondiug,`for example, tothe number of sheets of paper constituting a signature,) when itsoperation is discontinued until the other disk, meanwhile at rest, hasbeen moved through a like series of steps. In order that this may beaccomplished automatically and to the end that the parts may be soadjusted as to vary the number of steps through which each disk isoperated before it discontinues and the other takes up the count, meansare provided by which one pawl is automatically lifted out of operativerelation with its ratchet-disk, while the other pawl simultaneously isadjusted into operative relation with its disk, said means comprisingadjustable devices by which this movement may be made to occurautomatically at the end of any predetermined number of revolutions(from one up) of the shaft 10 or other part the movements of which areto be counted. A most desirable means for this purpose comprises aslide25, suitably guided in its movements by the elongated slots 26 andguide-pins 27, for example, and having projecting devices, such as thepins 28, which respectively engage the pawls and disengage themalternately from the contiguous ratchet-teeth, and means adjustable tocause said slide to move from one side to the other at the end of anypredetermined number of revolutions of said shaft lO to therebyautomatically cause the pawl which was disengaged from its ratchet-diskto engage said disk and at the same time cause the other pawl to beraised out of engagementwith its disk. The particular means devised andpreferably employed for adjusting said slide comprise a pair of pivotedarms 29 and 30, which project in opposite directions from a suitablerocking support and which are normally disengaged from the slide 25, soas to communicate no movement. thereto during their said rockingmovement and while in their said normal position, and striking devicescarried by the ratchet-disks and projecting therefrom and set thereon sothat when a disk has made the number of steps through which itris set tooperate while the other disk is inactive its striking device will bebrought into engagement with the contiguous arm 29 or 3U and will adjustthe same into operative relation with the slide 25, so that the nextrocking movement of the said adjusted arm will cause it to adjust theslide toward one side, and thereby lift the pawl at said side from theratchet-disk and permit the other pawl to drop into engagement with itsdisk,whereby the latter takes up the count where the other left off.

The striking devices preferably employed comprise plates 3l and 32,having lugs 33 and 34 to engage the pivoted arms 29 and 30,respectively, and each adjustably set on its ratchet-disk by a screw 35,extending into an elongated slot 36 in each disk. Each ratchetdisk isformed with a plurality of said slots, so that practically a continuousslot-for adjustment of the striking devices is formed around the entireface of the disk. By this means the device may be set to count insignatures or series of any desired amount, odd or even, upto the numberof teeth on the disk. A most desirable means for rocking` said arms 29and 30 comprise a rod 37, carried by the rod 14 and receiving motiontherefrom and having one of its ends engaged with one end of abell-crank lever 38, and a rod 39, extending from the other arm of saidlever to one arm of a second bell-crank lever 40. To the other arm ofsaid lever 40 the arms 29 and 30 are pivoted, and said lever thusconstitutes the rocking` support for said arms. For purposes ofadjustment bell-cranks 3S and 40 are preferably slotted at the place ofconnection therewith of the rods 37 and 39, respectively.

From the above description the operation of the machine thus fardescribed will readily be understood tobe as follows: Let it be assumed, for example, that sheets of paper from a rulingmachine are to becounted in series of twenty-tive. The striking devices 3l and 32 willbesetback twentyiivesubdivisions (each subdivision in the presentconstruction being represented by a tooth of the rat-chetdisk) from thebeginning of the respective ratchet-disks 4t and 5. To facilitate thisad justment, the ratchet-disks may be marked with the proper numeral ineach subdivision or at the end of each predetermined series of the same.Each subdivision maybe represented by a single tooth, in which event thethrust of the pawls` will be such as to move the disks a distance equalto one tooth at a time. Referring to Fig. l, it will be seen that pawl Sis engaged with ratchet-disk at and pawl 9 disengaged from ratchet-disk5. The ruling-machine being in motion, each revolution of its shaft l0causes lever 1S to ICO reciprocate by means of eccentric ll andrevolutions the slide 25 remains stationary,

because it is disengaged from the rocking arm 29; but meanwhile theratchet-disk it, moving step by step with the revolutions of the shaftlO, will at the twenty-iifth revolution of said shaft have brought thestriking device 33 into engagement with said arm and have caused it toraise said arm into engagement with a wall or projection al of the slide25, so that the rocking movement imparted to said arm during saidrevolution will cause it to press said slide in the direction of saidmovement, thus lifting the pawl S from the ratchet-disk ft andpermitting pawl 9 to drop into engagement with ratchet-disk 5, whichlatter thus takes up the count through the next series of twenty-five,when its pawl is lifted (by means of the striking device 3st acting onthe arm 30 and through said arm on the slide 25) and pawl 8simultaneously reengaged with disk 4, which disk meanwhile has beenreturned to its starting-place by IIO IIC

. recorder, a register, or an alarm-bell.

suitable means, such as those hereinafter set forth.

The bell-crank lever 40 is provided with stop-pins 42, arranged toengage the under sides of the levers 29 and 30 and to confine thedownward pivotal movement thereof.

The means preferably employed to return the ratchet disks to theirstartingplaces comprise gear-Wheels 43 43, mounted on the shafts 6 and 7and intermeshed with an intermediate gear 44, which is mounted on ashaft 45, carried by the frame 3. It will thus be seen that while oneratchet-disk is being moved in one direction by its pawl the gear on theshaft of said disk is acting through the intermediate gear 44 and thegear on the shaft of the other ratchet-disk to turn the latter in thereverse direction, and thus return it to the starting-placeautomatically. In order to steady the operation of the gears and theratchet-disks, a band-brake 46 is applied to the shaft 45, saidband-brake having suitable adjustable means 47 for regulating itstension.

From the above description of the construction and operation of themachine its advantages will readily be apparent. It will be noted thatthe machine is simple and durable in construction and that it willoperate automatically to count consecutively up to any number and willcount in sets or signatures of any desired number Within that of theteeth of the disks. The count may be communicated in any suitable manneror by any suitable means to any suitable registering or recordingdevice; but as this is not essential to the present invention it isconsidered to be unnecessary to show the same herein.

It is very desirable to employ in connection with the above-describedcounting mechanism a suitable indicating means, such as a Saidindicating means may be very desirably electrically operated under thecontrol of the slide 25 or arms 29 and 30. There is shown as an examplein the accompanying drawings an alarm-bell 50, situated in normally opencircuits which are closed to sound the alarm, and thereby warn theattendant when a predetermined count to which the device is set has beenreached, said alarm mechanism comprising, in addition to the bell 50 andbattery 5l, contacts 54 and 55 on the slide 25 and contacts 54L and 55a,carried by the arms 29 and 30 and brought by the upward movement thereofinto engagement with the contacts 54 and 55, respectively. The circuitconnections shown in the drawings comprise a wire 52, which leads fromone binding-post of the bell to one pole of the battery, a wire 52,which leads from the other pole of the battery and is connected, bymeans of a wire 53, with the contact 54 and by means of wire 58 with thecontact 55, and a wire 56, which leads from the other post of said belland has connection with both contacts 54a and 55 through branches 56nand 57.

Having thus described the invention,what is believed to be new, anddesired to be secured by Letters Patent, ilsl. In a counting-machine,the combination with a pair of ratchet-disks, of means for operatingsaid disks intermittently and alternately from a moving part ot amachine whose movements are to be counted, comprising pawls, means forreciprocating said pawls to thereby impart intermittent movement to therespective disks, and means controlled by the respective ratchet-disksfor automatically shifting the pawls one at a time out of engagementwith their respective disks at predetermined places in the travel of thedisks.

2. In a counting-machine, the combination with a pair of ratchet-disks,of means for operating said disks intermittently and alternately from amoving part of a machine whose movements are to be counted, comprisingpawls, means for operating said pawls to impart intermittent movement tothe respective ratchet-disks, means controlled by the respectiveratchet-disks for automatically shifting the pawls one at a time out ofengagement with their respective disks at predetermined places in thetravel of the disks, and means for returning the disks to theirstarting-places when disengaged from said pawls.

3. In a counting-machine, the combination with a pair of ratchet-disks,of means for operating said disks alternately and intermittentlyfrom amoving part of a machine whose movements are to be counted, comprisingpawls, means for operating said pawls to impart intermittent movement tothe respective ratchet-disks, means controlled by the respectiveratchet-disks for automatically shifting the pawls one at a time out ofengagement with their respective disks at predetermined places in thetravel of the disks, a gear partaking of the movement of each of saiddisks, and means for transmitting movement from one of said gears to theother in reverse direction.

4. In a counting-machine, the combination with a pair of ratchet-disks,of means for operating said disks alternately and intermittently from amoving part of a machine whose movements are to be counted, comprisingoperating means for.the pawl, and means for automatically lifting onepawl out of operative relation with its ratchet-disk while the otherpawl is simultaneously adjusted into operative relation with its disk,comprising adjustable devices controlled by the movements of therespective disks and pawl-lifting means operated by said devices.

5. In a counting-machine, the combination with a pair of ratchet-disks,of means for operating said disks intermittently and alternately from amoving part of a machine whose movements are to be counted, comprisingpawls, means for operating said pawls toimpart intermittent movement tothe respective ratchet-disks, a slide having means to engage said pawlsand adjust them one ata time out IOC IIO

of engagement with the respective disks, and means controlled by themovement of the respective disks for moving the slide in one directionwhen one disk has moved a predetermined distance and for adjusting theslide in the other' direction when the other disk has moved apredetermined distance.

G. ln a counting-machine, the combination with a pair of ratchet-disks,of means for operating said disks intermittently and alternately from amoving part of a machine whose movements are to be counted, comprisingpawls to engage said disks, operating means for the pawls, and means forautomatically lifting one pawl out of operative relation with its diskwhile the other pawl is simultaneously adjusted into operative relationwith its disk, comprising a slide having means to engage said pawls,pivoted arms, means for moving said arms bodily, and means controlled bythe movements of the ratchet-disks for moving said arms respectivelyinto engagement with the slide whereby the bodily movement thereof mayadjust said slide.

7. ln a counting-machine, the combination with a pair of ratchet-disks,of means for operating said disks alternately and intermittently from amoving part of a machine whose movements are to be counted, comprisingpawls, operating means for the pawls, a slide having means to engagesaid pawls, pivoted arms,rmeans for moving said arms bodily, and devicesadjustably secured tothe ratchetdisks and adapted to engage and raisethe respective arms into engagement with said slide.

8. ln a counting-machine, the combination witha pair of ratchet-diskshaving elongated slots, of means for operating said disks alternatelyand intermittently from a moving part of a machine whose movements areto be counted, comprising pawls, means for reciprocating the pawls, aslide having means to engage said pawls, pivoted arms, means for movingsaid arms bodily, plates having lugs to engage the respective arms, andset-screws adjustable in the slots of said disks for secu ring saidplates adjustably to said disks.

9. The combination with a rotatable shaft, a lever and connecting meansbetween said shaft and lever adapted to convert'rotary movement of theshaft into reciprocatory movement of the lever, of pawls carried by saidlever, ratchet-disks engaged by said pawls, and means for adjusting thepawls one at a time out of engagement with their respectiveratchet-disks, comprising an adjustable device to engage the pawls andmeans for adjusting said device under the control of the ratchet-disks.

l0. The combination with arotatable shaft, a lever and connecting meansbetween said shaft and lever adapted to convert rotary movement of theshaft into reciprocatory movement of the lever, of pawls carried by saidlever, ratchet-disks engaged by said pawls and means for adjusting thepawls one at a time out of engagement with their respectiveratchet-disks, comprising an adjustable device to engage said pawls,pivoted arms, a rocking support for said arms and means carried by theratchet-disks and adjustable thereon for engaging the respective armsand adjusting lthe same into engagement with said adjustable device atpredetermined places in the travel of said disks.

1l. The combination with a rotatable shaft, a lever, connecting meansbetween said shaft and lever adapted to convert rotary movement of theshaft into reciprocatory movement of the lever, said connecting meanshaving a reciprocatory rod, pawls carried by said lever, andratchetdisks engaged by said pawls, of means for adjusting the pawls oneat a time out of engagement with their respective ratchet-disks,comprising an adjustable device to engage said pawls, a bellcrank, meansconnecting said bellcrank with said rod for transmitting motion from thelatter to the former, arms pivoted to said bell-crank,and meansadjustable on the disks and projecting therefrom to engage said arms andraise the same into engagement with said adjustable device atpredetermined places in the trave-l of the disks.

12. The combination with a rotatable shaft, a lever, and connectingmeans between said shaft and lever adapted to convert rotary movement ofthe shaft into reciprecatory movement of the lever, of pawls carried bysaid lever, ratchet-disks engaged by said pawls, a slide having means toengage said pawls and lift the same one at a time out of engagement withtheir respective ratchetdisks, a rocking support, arms pivoted on saidsupport and normally out of engagement with said slide, means carried bythe ratchet-disks for adjusting said arms into engagement with saidslide, gears partaking of the intermittent movement of said disks, andmeans for transmitting movement from one of said gears to the other inreverse direction.

13. In a counting-machine, the combination with a pair of ratchet-disksand pawls operated to adjust the same alternately and intermittentlyfrom a moving part of a machine whose movements are to be counted, andmeans for adjusting said pawls comprising a slide having projections toengage the respective pawls, and arms operated to adjust said slide, ofan indicating means controlled by. the movement of said slide.

la. In a counting-machine, the combination with a pair of ratchet-disks,pawls operated to adjust the same alternately and intermittently from amoving part of a machine whose movements are to be counted, and meansfor adjusting said pawls comprising a slide and arms operated to adjustsaid slide, of an indicating means comprising electrical circuits havingcontacts carried by said slide and contacts carried by said arms.

15. ln a counting-machine, the combina- ICO tion with a pair ofratchet-disks, and means for operating said disks alternately andintermittently from a moving part of a machine Whose movements are to becounted, comprising pawls, operating means for the pawls, a slide havingmeans to engage said pawls, pivoted arms,means for moving said armsbodily, and means controlled by the movements ofthe ratchet-disks formoving said arms pivotaily into engagement With the slide, of indicatingmeans comprising electrical circuits having contacts carried by saidslide and contacts carried by said arms.

16. In a counting-machine, the combination with a disk provided withratchet-teeth, means controlled by a device the movements of which areto be counted for actuating said disk, comprising a pawl to engage theteeth of said disk and actuating connections for said ypawl, of anindicating means and means for operating the same when said disk hasturned a predetermined extent, comprising an electrical circuit,contacts therein, a pivoted support for one of said contacts, and meansprojecting from said disk and arranged to engage said support to adjustthe contact carried thereby into engagement with the other Contact,

1'7. n a counting-machine, the combination with a slotted disk, meanscontrolled by a device the movements of which are to be counted foractuating said disk, of an indicating means,an electrical circuit havingcontacts and a device adjustable in the slot of said disk for closingthe circuit through said indicating means.

Witness my hand this 27th day of July, 1903, at Huntingdon, in the Stateof Penn- Sylvania.

JAMES B. SLEEMAN.

Vv'itnesses:

D. ELLIOTT JOHNSTON, XV. A. MAGUIRE.

